1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program recording apparatus.
2. Related Art of the Invention
First, a structure of a program recording apparatus according to a prior art is described in reference to FIG. 18. Here, FIG. 18 is a configuration view of a program recording apparatus according to a prior art.
The main tuner 10 is a unit receiving an analog broadcasting channel which becomes a recorded image object from an antenna 1.
A sub-tuner 20 is a unit receiving electronic program information provided by a broadcasting station (not shown) from the antenna 1. A data decoding processing part 21 is a unit inputting a signal from the sub-tuner 20 so as to extract and decode electronic program information which multiplexed between vertical retrace line sections of a particular channel.
An image/speech sound encoding processing part 30 is a part for inputting a signal from the main tuner 10 so as to code a digital image/speech sound signal by MPEG, or the like.
A microcontroller 240 wherein a clock and graphic function are built in is a unit which can generate program management information as graphics so as to control the display by a data display part 90 in accordance with the operation of an infrared remote controller 250 by a user. A memory 41 is a unit maintaining work memories required for electronic program information, program management information and the operation of the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function is built in.
The memory 41 stores electronic program information as shown in FIG. 2. Here, FIG. 2 is a list of electronic program information (appropriately extracted from electronic program information delivered in the week of Jul. 28, 1999) at 20:30 on Aug. 12, 1999.
Electronic program information provided by a broadcasting station (not shown) is formed of seven items: channel, program title, broadcast date and time, genre, program summary, television personalities and series information. The channel is a broadcasting channel of programs. The program title is the title of a program. Broadcast date and time are the date and time when the program broadcast is started and the date and time when the program broadcast is finished. The genre is the category which reflects the contents of the program and is any of “news,” “movies,” “sports,” “drama,” “documentary,” and “others.” The program summary is a summary of the program contents, which is able to be omitted. The television personalities are the people who appear on the program, which are able to be omitted. The series information shows broadcast format of a program, or the like, and is information which is attached in the case that the program consists of a series.
In addition, the memory 41 stores program management information as shown in FIG. 19. Here, FIG. 19 is a list of program management information (recorded programs and programs set for recording are extracted) at 20:30 on Aug. 12, 1999 according to a prior art.
The program management information is formed of seven item of present time, maximum recording time, priority criterion for erasing programs, channel, program group, program group recording criterion and program recording condition (broadcast start date and time and recording time are included).
The present time is current time. The maximum recording time is the maximum value of the total of the program recording time which can be recorded in a recording medium 261. Here the maximum recording time of the recording medium 261 is 12 hours.
The priority criterion for erasing programs is a criterion which is set by a user, which determines the priority with respect to the erasure of data containing the contents of the recorded programs or the programs set for recording and which is the “broadcast starting date and time” (that is to say, the data which contains the contents of the program of which the broadcast starting date and time is earlier are erased according to priority).
The channel is a broadcasting channel of programs. A program group is a series of series information offered by a broadcasting station (not shown). The program group recording criterion is a criterion with respect to the recording of data which contains the contents of programs which is set for each program group and which enables the selection of either of “record the newest x times (x is substituted by a concrete numeral)” or “record every time” for each program group.
The program recording condition is a condition with respect to program recording and is any of “set for recording,” “recorded” or “recording.” Here, in the column of the program recording condition the starting date and times of program broadcasting and recording time of a program (noted in parentheses) are also noted. Here, the starting date and time of program broadcast in the present column also represents the program title and is noted, for example, as 1999/0812/21:00 in FIG. 20 for the program “Total Solar Eclipse” in FIG. 2. In addition, the recording time of a program is the broadcasting time of the program.
The infrared remote controller 250 is a unit commanding the power source control, channel switching, setting for recording a program, and password input of the recording setter to the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in through the infrared reception part 51.
The media control part 60 is a part for inputting a signal from the image/speech sound encoding processing part 30 and the micro controller 240 wherein a clock/graphics function are built in so as to carry out writing in and erasing of the data in the recording medium 261.
An image/speech sound decoding processing part 70 is a part for inputting a signal from the medium controlling part 60 so as to decode a digital/image speech sound signal.
An image/speech sound/graphics switching part 80 is a part for inputting a signal from the main tuner 10, the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in and the image/speech sound decoding processing part 70 so as to switch the outputs of image, speech sound and graphics.
The data display part 90 is a part for inputting a signal from the image/speech sound/graphics switching part 80 so as to render an image and speech sound on a CRT (cathode ray tube) 91.
The operation of the program recording apparatus according to a prior art which has the above described configuration is described in reference to FIGS. 18 to 20.
First, the operations of the program recording apparatus according to a prior art when receiving electronic program information offered by a broadcasting station (not shown) and when forming program management information are described.
The sub-tuner 20 receives, from the antenna 1, the electric wave sent out from a broadcasting station (not shown) extracts data which has electronic program information and carries out signal output to the data decoding processing part 21. The data decoding processing part 21 decodes a signal inputted from the sub-tuner 20 and carries out signal output to the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in. The micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in inputs a signal from the data decoding processing part 21, which is outputted to the memory 41.
The memory 41 inputs a signal from the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in and stores electronic program information offered by a broadcasting station. The memory 41 stores electronic program information as shown in FIG. 2 at 20:30 on Aug. 12, 1999.
In addition, the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in refers to the electronic program information and forms program management information as shown in FIG. 19, which is stored in the memory 41.
Next, the operation of the program recording apparatus according to a prior art when carrying out a setting for recording a program group “Total Solar Eclipse” through the record indication by a user at 20:30 on Aug. 12, 1999 is described.
The infrared remote controller 250 inputs a signal, which commands the recording of the program group “Total Solar Eclipse” according to a record indication by the user, to the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in through the infrared reception part 51. Here, the record indication contents by the user are that the channel is “12,” the program group is “Total Solar Eclipse” and the program group recording criterion is “record every time.”
The micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in inputs a signal of the above described record indication from the infrared remote controller 50. In addition, the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in refers to electronic program information as shown in FIG. 2 based on the input signal and recognizes that the program group “Total Solar Eclipse” comprises a program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” which is broadcast from 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999 and of which the recording time is 2 hours, and a program “Total Solar Eclipse (second)” which is broadcast from 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999 and of which the recording time is 2 hours. The micro controller 240 updates the program management information as shown in FIG. 19 to program management information as shown in FIG. 20. Here, FIG. 20 is a list of updated program management information at 20:30 on Aug. 12, 1999, which is different from FIG. 19 in the point that information with respect to the program group “Total Solar Eclipse” is written in.
The micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in stores that updated program management information in the memory 41.
Next, the operation by the program recording apparatus when recording the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” at 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999 is described.
The micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in refers to program management information as shown in FIG. 20 when it becomes close to 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999 and recognizes that sufficient empty space exists in the recording medium 261 for recording the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” (noted as 1999/0812/21:00 in FIG. 20) of which the recording time is 2 hours because the maximum recording time of the recording medium 261 is 12 hours and the total recording hours of the programs of which the program recording condition is “recorded” is 10 hours at 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999.
The main tuner 10 receives electric waves sent out from the broadcasting station (not shown) from the antenna 1 when it becomes 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999, and extracts data which contain the contents of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” so as to carry out signal output to the image/speech sound encoding processing part 30. The image/speech sound encoding processing part 30 encodes a signal inputted from the main tuner 10 and carries out a signal output to the medium control part 60. The medium control part 60 inputs a signal from the image/speech sound encoding processing part 30 and starts the writing in of the data which contains the contents of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” to a recording medium 261. In addition, the medium control part 60 carries out a signal output, of the start of the writing in of the data which contains the contents of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” to the recording medium 261, into the micro controller 40 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in.
The micro controller 40 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in updates program management information as shown in FIG. 21 and stores this in the memory 41. Here, FIG. 21 shows a list of program management information at 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999 which is different from FIG. 20 in the point that the program recording condition of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” is “recording.”
Next, the operation of the program recording apparatus when carrying out recording of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (second)” at 21:00 on Aug. 13, 1999 is described.
The micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in refers to program management information as shown in FIG. 21 when it becomes close to 21:00 on Aug. 13, 1999 and recognizes that sufficient empty space does exist in the recording medium 261 for recording the program “Total Solar Eclipse (second)” (noted as 1999/0813/21:00 in FIG. 20) of which the recording time is 2 hours because the maximum recording time of the recording medium 261 is 12 hours and the total recording hours of the programs of which the program recording condition is “recorded” is 12 hours at 21:00 on Aug. 13, 1999.
As shown in FIG. 20, the program erasure priority criterion is “broadcast start date and time” according to a prior art. Therefore, the data contains the contents of a program of which the broadcast start date and time is earlier are erased according to the priority.
The program of which the broadcast start date and time is the earliest is the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (sixth)” (noted as 1999/0728/20:00 in FIG. 20) and the program of which the broadcast start date and time is the earliest next to this is the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (seventh)” (noted as 1999/0804/20:00 in FIG. 20).
The micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in judges that it is enough to erase the data containing the contents of “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (sixth)” of which the recording time is 1 hour and the data containing the contents of “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (seventh)” of which the recording time is 1 hour in order to carry out the recording of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (first)” of which the recording time is 2 hours and carries out a signal output of a command to erase these to the medium control part 60.
The medium control part 60 inputs a command from the micro controller 240 wherein a clock and graphics function are built in and erases the data containing the contents of the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (sixth)” and the data containing the contents of the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (seventh).” The main tuner 10 receives the electric wave sent out from the broadcasting station (not shown) from the antenna 1 at 21:00 on Aug. 12, 1999 and extracts the data containing the contents of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (second)” so as to carry out a signal output to the image/speech sound encoding processing part 30. The image/speech sound encoding processing part 30 encodes a signal inputted from the main tuner 10 and carries out a signal output to the medium control part 60. The medium control part 60 inputs a signal from the image/speech sound encoding processing part 30 and starts the writing in of the data containing the contents of the program “Total Solar Eclipse (second)” to the recording medium 261.
In addition, as has already been described, the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (sixth)” and the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (seventh)” are erased at the time when the program “Total Solar eclipse (second)” is started to be recorded according to the program erasure priority criterion. In the case that the user strongly desires to watch the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (sixth)” and the program “It Will be Sunny Tomorrow (seventh),” that is to say, these are the programs which must not be erased, it is disadvantageous.
In this manner there is the problem that, when sufficient vacant space does not exist at the time of carrying out recording the programs which are judged to have the highest priority of erasure, according to the program erasure priority criterion, are erased, even in the case that they are the programs the user does not desire to be erased.